November 19, 2010
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Wedding Part II: Gold Coast
Having enjoyed our first night of wedding bliss, we woke up the next morning late once more for breakfast. 2 brekkies missed, the hotel must have been delighted to have saved a little cash from us.
We had arranged to see Dean and Donna that lunchtime at the Indian restaurant next to the hotel, but the place was closed. Seems like this is not the place to go to if you want to be fed. So we headed instead in the 2 hire cars to Chinatown, and found a Malaysian/Singaporean/Asian place that was decent. The food took some time to arrive, but was tasty enough. We then left and walked through the market, people selling fighting fish and hello kitty umbrellas the main attractions of the area. Donna was trying to persuade Dean to part with some money to fund the hello kitty revolution. Thankfully he resisted.
We said our thanks to them both for flying in to Brisbane once more, and got in to the car to head down the coast to our hotel. Opting for the “I looked at the directions 3 weeks ago” navigation tool, rather than looking at a map and working it out from there, we headed down the freeway towards Surfers Paradise, enjoying the rain as the Hyundai made its way without any issues along the slippery surface.
We got to a place that my memory recognized, and took the exit ramp, the road then winding inland, even though I knew we were supposed to head in the other direction. The car though did not want to turn around and so we continued as the road headed in to the rolling hills, the rain still falling lightly. We were in absolutely no rush to get to the hotel, so the wrong road was not a problem for us. Eventually though, and with no road back towards the coast in sight, we did turn around and found the way in to Robina, which was just south of where we needed to be. A quick look at the map and I had sussed it, so we drove on up a little, stopping off at the local Spar market to get some water and chips and dips. After all, we knew that the Radisson resort where we were staying was hardly in the centre of all things.
We checked in, the rain pouring down, and found our hotel room after a bit of searching, the hotel not sending someone to help us, rather just giving us general directions and hoping we would make it before they had to send out a missing persons call to the local cops. The room was next to the tennis courts, although by this time it was dark and the rain falling like it was never going to stop. We ate the snacks for dinner, and finished them off with some wedding pavlova and champagne from the previous hotel, the Radisson being too cheap to offer us something for our honeymoon.
Sunday morning we failed miserably to wake up and essentially did nothing all morning. We headed to a shopping centre around lunchtime and got something to eat, which was not very good. The shopping centre close to Surfers was ok, nothing special, and mainly outside which would not normally be an issue except for the fact that it was raining, and thus did not make for the best shopping experience of all time. As the mall started closing around 4, we went for a short drive, and then headed back home, the rain coming down in droves. We wondered if this was going to be the weather for the rest of our honeymoon.
For dinner we headed to a pizza and ribs place we had seen which was not too far from the hotel, and took the food back to our room, eating and watching TV on the bed, enjoying being able to relax together. After surfing the net for a while, Joanne talking on Skype with her family, we headed to bed.
The next morning we did finally wake up in time for breakfast, and took the hotel buffet which was pretty decent. They had beans, hash browns, and egg which is all I need for full satisfaction. The wife took a load of meaty things and we sat down in the relative calm of the early morning sunshine. We decided to head up to Tamborine Mountain, the Hyundai suffering on the very steep incline, but eventually making it up to the top. I told Joanne it would be awesome to ride the mountain bike up that section… there were even a few people trying it, and looking like they were suffering more than just a tad.
In the village we stopped off for some coffee, sitting outside and enjoying the cool springtime sunshine. We went looking for some water but found none, and as we moved on, I saw a road I liked the look of which wound down a little to a natural park where there was a walkway. I asked Joanne if she felt up to it – she did – and so we walked slowly along this loop through the Queensland rainforest, and out to a view of the rather stunning Hinterland. Apparently everything we could see in the valley, everything that was now void of trees, had been forest until the white man came.
We had seen lizards and birds and all kinds of insects on the way down, and we got to a waterfall which – we initially thought – was not really that impressive, until we got a little bit further around the loop when we had a viewing platform, where we could see the waterfall in all its’ splendour. Now that – we both thought – was more like it.
We walked back to the car, and then decided to go and have a look at the cheese factory, but because Joanne was thirsty, we headed first to the local store to get some water, and then back to the cheesery where I enjoyed and bought a couple of slabs. By early afternoon we were heading back to the hotel, where I called the local dive shop to find out what they could offer. I was hoping to get in a day of diving, but the shop owners told me the current from all the rain made visibility very poor but I should call back Wednesday. We had dinner in Surfers – a nice Thai meal – before driving down the coast, looking for an ice cream shop. We didn’t find one, so instead we headed in to a gas station and got one from the freezer.
Tuesday saw us head back up the same road as the previous day, though this time instead of going to Tamborine Mountain we headed a little further to Binnaburra which is up in the mountains, surrounded by forest. The drive was as spectacular as the previous day, and took us through some rolling countryside that reminded me of Dorset in England. Even the weather – cool, overcast – reminded me of the country of my birth. As we approached the area we had come to see, Joanne spotted a Koala in a tree just off the road. The brakes would have screeched had I been going fast enough, but the Hyundai can’t go that fast anyway. We reversed up and saw our first koala in the wild. Indeed, our first koala ever (unless I saw them as a child in a zoo visit). This was without doubt the highlight of the day.
We got to the lodge in Binnaburra and had a nice lunch there, watching the array of birds in the forest. After lunch we headed upstairs to a balcony where there was a crow-esque bird watching, happy to be close to us, not feeling threatened in any way. We just relaxed and watched from the balcony for a half hour or so, before making our way back to the car for the drive home. We could not spot where the koala was on the way back, but stopped regularly to take photos and just take a rest.
As we got back close to the coast we headed to Robina shopping mall for a little shopping but the place was closing within a half hour. In Queensland, the shopping experience is slightly different to that in Taiwan, where you can shop until 10PM, giving you plenty of time to max the credit card.
The next day I called up the diving shop – the guys telling me the water is “green as mate”, which deciphers in to bugger all visibility, so we headed back to the Robina shopping mall and went to the food court for lunch before doing some shopping, also stopping off for a nice coffee in the café overlooking the manmade lake.
We were looking for clothes – especially jeans – for me as well as some baby things (with the condition of NOT made in China), and ended up getting some seriously nice Italian shoes and a pair of Levis. I was surprised and happy to see I still fitted in to a 36” waistline. We found some gorgeous little outfits for the new addition to the Fowler family, Lyndon, when he arrives in February next year. I was also after a toasted sandwich maker but did not see one I liked.
We were also looking for some business shirts for me, but also on the condition that they were not made in China. This was Mission: Impossible. Every single store we went in to – the affordable shirts were made in China, the nice ones that were made everywhere else in the world twice to three times the price.
We decided though to go to the shopping mall we had been to on our first day on Gold Coast, and ended up not finding anything there either, so we headed in to the Coles supermarket for some veggie stuff. I bought Tim Tams, beans, cheese – all the things I miss from the homeland. As the place was closing by now (time seemed to go by so quickly), we headed back to the hotel for dinner.
The next day we drove down to Byron Bay, stopping off for coffee and breakfast, which we had missed in the hotel. The place we stopped at had just stopped serving brekkie, and we did not really feel in the mood for lunch, at least not their lunch, so we carried on driving, stopping for a short while at a tiny lighthouse nestled in woodland and with a view of a long, beautiful beach with stunning golden sand.
After this break it was non-stop to Byron Bay, where we were hungry, but still headed up to the lighthouse first. This used to be the whaling station, back in the day, and thankfully they stopped the whaling when they had reduced the population to around 200 whales (from several thousand at their peak). Good that Australia has banned all commercial whaling in its territorial waters – because we got to see a couple of humpback whales breaching, which was an absolutely amazing sight.
We then went looking for some lunch in the town, but most of the place was closing, so we ended up going to a pie shop which filled us up nicely for the moment, and then we trekked back up, taking the adventurous route trying to gauge the way back without the map. Actually I wanted to see kookaburra, which we did see, but the road taken was getting windy and hilly, and very narrow. When it turned in to a dirt track I was slightly concerned, but not too worried, and as we hit a junction I checked the map, saw something I liked, and turned right. Awesome.
We got back to the hotel, got changed in to the new clothes we had bought the previous day, and had dinner in a nice Indian restaurant close to the hotel. We then took a walk around the lake, looking at the prices for property in the town, thinking it was expensive but not really so expensive compared with our apartment.
The next day we had to drive to Brisbane to meet up with Fiona who had got our wedding certificate ready, and then we went to the Taiwan office to get it notarized in order to have our marriage legal inside Taiwan. We had a quick look at the Story Bridge, close to where we had eaten our wedding dinner, and then drove back to Gold Coast.
We headed back to the shopping mall we liked before in Robina – also looking for some chocolates for the wedding party back in Taiwan. We found one place with chocolate hearts, so we bought 300, and also some Turkish Delight for my mucker Et, as well as some other chocolates for friends and family. We dumped these in the car and got some other shopping done, and looked for some more shirts, but again the Made in China rule applied, and we got nowhere. With it being our final day in Gold Coast, we decided to head back to the first shopping mall, where we found exactly what we were looking for – some Van Heusen shirts made in Indonesia at a most aggressive price. Perfect. Money spent – and I also bought another pair of Levis, whilst I was there. You’re probably thinking Joanne has not bought anything so far, but given the fact that she was the one who wanted all the chocolate hearts, she bought those.
Once we had dumped all the stuff in the hotel, we went out for pizza – deciding to take it back to the hotel. The pizza place we chose this time was close to a bar, and right next to a gas station. After we had picked up the pizza, we headed back, through the gas station, where PC Plod stopped me for a random breath test.
As he asked me if I had been drinking, I got all tongue-tied, and the guy probably thought he was on a winner! Alas for him, it was a mere slip of the tongue, and I passed the test with ease. We had a good laugh about it, he sent me on my way, and my first ever breathaliser was done. Good pizza too!
The final morning of our trip arrived and we were already packed, so we checked out of the hotel, and drove up to the airport, filled the Hyundai with gas, and dropped it off. After check in we had some time to kill, so Joanne decided to buy some more chocolate – Aussie chocolate macadamia! Nom nom. She could not make a decision though as to which ones she wanted, and she finally made a decision as the PA announced our flight was boarding.
We watched the last 10 minutes of the movie that cut off on the out-bound flight, and got to Taipei where I could not find the car (it does of course help if you look on the correct floor). Joanne, sensing my frustration, went to look for it, found it within a couple of minutes, and we were on the way to Taipei, not home. We had plans for dinner – my good friend from Miami was visiting and was not able to get there for the wedding party, but wanted to meet up with us. We had a great Thai meal near the 101 before heading home (with one of the 2 cats – Ginge!).
Honeymoon was over – now came the joys of day to day married life!
